Building a bridge

ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s not easy turning an evangelical into an environmentalist.

Dr. Joel Hunter of Northland Church takes time to chat with a BBC reporter following a radio interview on Sunday, June 17, 2007, in Longwood, Florida. (Phyllis Redman/Orlando Sentinel/MCT)

But a new documentary from Northland, A Church Distributed — one of Florida’s largest evangelical congregations — aims to do just that by focusing on Scripture instead of science, faith instead of logic.

In “Our Father’s World,” Northland pastor Joel Hunter makes the argument to conservative Christians that saving energy, recycling waste and reducing your carbon footprint are all based on Scripture.

“The Bible provides a direct mandate to be caretakers of the garden,” Hunter says in the documentary. “While creation still belongs to God, he has graciously entrusted it to our care and stewardship.”

But the film also points out that evangelical Christians have abdicated the care of God’s creation to New Age and secular environmentalists. To become an evangelical environmentalist is to be associated with the tree-huggers, pagan nature worshippers and liberals.

“What has happened is the environmental movement has been generally championed by the liberal wing of the church, which appeals to logic and science,” said Tony Campolo, a Pennsylvanian pastor who appears in the Northland film.

“They make their case brilliantly, but they don’t understand that evangelicals will not take seriously any case that is not based on the Bible.”

Bible-based environmentalism

In advocating for Bible-based environmentalism, Hunter gets pushback from both sides.

“We get shut out of the conversation with scientists because of our faith, but we also get a lot of flak from the fearful people in the religious community who think environmentalism is something pagan,” Hunter said. “This is right where we want to be. If you aren’t getting it from both sides, there’s no need for a bridge.”

Building a bridge of common ground between the faith and secular communities is starting to work, said the Rev. Andy Bell, executive director of Sunshine State Interfaith Power and Light, a St. Petersburg, Fla., faith-based environmental group created in 2010.

“The secular environmentalists say, ‘Welcome, we’ve been waiting for you guys,’ ” said Bell, a United Methodist minister whose group includes Northland and 14 other Central Florida religious organizations.

It’s a natural alliance because most people who care about saving the earth are spiritual, if not religious, said Frank Jackalone, senior organizing manager for the Sierra Club in St. Petersburg.

Love of nature

The love of nature and the determination to prevent its destruction speak to the soul of mankind, he said.

“Most environmentalists see the protection of the planet as a spiritual expression no matter what their faith,” Jackalone said.

In the documentary, Hunter makes the point that protecting the environment and saving Earth from destruction do not belong to one group or faith. He says every major religion has tenets for taking care of Earth and all its living things.

If faith leaders such as Hunter can marshal the legions of evangelicals to join the environmental movement, it could have a profound impact on climate change, Bell said.

“The game changer for climate change will be people of faith,” he said. “The secular environmentalists were ahead of us because we dropped the ball. We let things get out of hand without raising the moral questions related to our ability to care for the Earth.”